NBCUniversal is settling a $30 million defamation lawsuit brought by an ICE detention facility gynecologist who was falsely branded a "uterus collector" and accused of performing unnecessary and botched hysterectomies on migrants.
Dr. Mahendra Amin, a gynecologist who treated patients at a Georgia ICE facility, was identified by MSNBC in September 2020 as the subject of a nurse's shocking whistleblower complaint entitled "Lack of Medical Care, Unsafe Work Practices, and Absence of Adequate Protection Against COVID-19 for Detained Immigrants and Employees Alike at the Irwin County Detention Center."
The nurse, identified as Dawn Wooten, accused a gynecologist at the facility of conducting numerous unneeded procedures, sometimes with disastrous results. According to the complaint, which never identified Amin by name, one woman even had the wrong ovary removed.
What followed were several MSNBC on-air reports on Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace, All In With Chris Hayes, and The Rachel Maddow Show that identified Amin as the gynecologist in question, despite initial hesitation from their Standards department over Wooten's unverified claims.
Amin contended in a $30 million lawsuit against NBCUniversal that he performed just two hysterectomies at the facility, had ICE's approval for both, and was not a "uterus collector."
Back in July, a judge ruled that several MSNBC talking heads spouted off "verifiably false" statements about Amin, including the "uterus collector" moniker.
"NBC investigated the whistleblower letter's accusations; that investigation did not corroborate the accusations and even undermined some; NBC republished the letter's accusations anyway," Judge Lisa Godbey Wood wrote in a summary.
In total, Amin argued that 10 "false and defamatory" statements about him were said on The Rachel Maddow Show, seven were said on All In with Chris Hayes, and six were uttered on Deadline: White House, Fox News reported.
With the settlement, NBCUniversal will avoid a jury trial that was slated to begin in April.
Calls to NBCUniversal and Dr. Amin were not immediately returned Friday.